Has my cat trained me?

My neutered male cat wants to drink from the faucet only. He started this about 6 months ago. I keep out 2 or 3 very clean water bowls and do not allow them to become dirty or slimy. Now if I go to the bathroom, he races in and demands that I turn the sink tap to a slow drizzle and gets his water. He is not interested in the kitchen tap. Sometimes after this behavior, I go immediately to his water bowls and clean and refill them and he still will not drink. Instead he returns to the bathroom door and cries for me to turn the tap back on. He spends a great deal of time trying to make me turn the bathroom tap on. I had my vet do bloodwork and exam and he is perfectly healthy. I do not turn the tap on very often for him so obviously he WILL drink from his bowls if he has to. Any ideas about this odd behavior? S.S.

Dear S.S.,

It’s not unusual for cats to prefer running water to standing water. Think about it from your cat’s point of view: would you rather have fresh and cool water from the tap or water that has been standing at room temperature for a couple hours? To your cat, the likelihood of getting fresh water from the tap far outweighs the likelihood of getting fresh water from the bowl so, even if you’ve just washed and refilled his bowls, it makes sense that he would still go for the tap water. The fact that he prefers the bathroom tap to the kitchen tap may have to do with something other than the water itself. Perhaps it’s easier to perch on the bathroom sink and reach the flowing water without getting one’s paws wet?

The most interesting thing about this situation is how it illustrates some principles of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the term used to describe one way that animals, including humans, dogs, and cats, learn. In a nutshell, if a behavior is reinforced, it is more likely to occur in the future; if the same behavior is not reinforced, it will become extinct. So, if the behavior of going into the bathroom and crying results in the availability of fresh water, this behavior will continue to occur, so long as your cat desires fresh water. However, if this behavior did not result in fresh water, or anything else desirable, it would eventually disappear.

So, if behaviors that are not reinforced are supposed to disappear, why does your cat persist, even when you don’t turn the tap on for him very often? Well, it turns out that behaviors that are not reinforced every time are even more impervious to extinction than behaviors that are reinforced every time! In other words, if you turned on the tap every single time your cat vocalized in the bathroom, it would be relatively quick and easy to extinguish this behavior by refusing to respond to it. However, since this behavior has been reinforced intermittently, it would take much longer to extinguish by ignoring it.

What does this mean for your situation? Basically, you can extinguish any annoying behavior by finding out how the behavior is reinforced and, armed with this knowledge, preventing it from getting reinforced. When it comes to behaviors that have been reinforced in intermittently, it is especially helpful to encourage another incompatible and equally rewarding behavior in your cat. For example, while refusing to respond to your cat’s demanding vocalizations by turning the tap on, you can provide your cat with an appropriate alternative source of fresh water in the form of a cat water fountain, which is widely available in large pet supply stores. These cat bowl-sized fountains provide flowing water all day long and require no effort on your part.

Thanks for writing, S.S.; your story is a lovely example of how, if you don’t train your cat, they will certainly take pleasure in training you!

3 Responses

I know it seems indulgent, but I was worried my cats weren’t drinking enough water, so I got a Drinkwell Pet Fountain. They LOVE it. I actually see them drinking water now more often than I used to. But, yes, they seem to have VERY long memories, also!!

I too bought the drinkwell fountain when my cat developed kidney/bladder stones. Although we lost him almost a month ago it extended his life which is something I’m grateful for. My other cat doesn’t touch it, it sits unused on the counter of the bathroom now. She prefers the dogs bowl than the fountain.